Page 170 of Ravenrose

The rising cliffside rushes toward me too fast to stop. I hit the ground hard, slamming shoulder-first into the rocky edge before tumbling violently across the dirt and grass. A cry of pain escapes me when my knee slams hard against a small boulder, and I finally collapse down onto my stomach.

Pain explodes—everywhere. My shoulder, my ribs, my knee…

I’m teetering on the edge.

My hands claw furiously at the ground, dragging myself further to safety, my body shaking after everything…

Alive.

Holy shit, I’m alive.

A sharp gust of wind rustles through the feathers at my back, and I tremble from the unfamiliar sensation, one I had all but forgotten.

My wings.

Oh, gods.

Pushing myself up on shaking arms, I steal a glance back at the dark feathers, ruffled and uneven from the crash. They twitch weakly behind me as I just stare at them in horror.

No-no-no. Not here. Not now. Not in front of him.

My gaze jerks up—across the ravine.

I find Ayer standing on the ledge I just leapt from. Staring at me. And even from this distance, I can feel his shock. His dark silhouette is motionless as his gaze locks onto the massive black wings trembling behind me.

Void, take me. He saw.

He knows.

Terror unlike anything I’ve ever felt before claws up my throat.

Only heirs bear wings.

It’s the oldest law among the fae kingdoms.

And Fel is the heir to Sitara.

Not me.

My mother knew. From the moment they first appeared when I was little, she taught me how to hide them. Swore my brothers to silence.

No one can know.

No one can ever know.

The fear in her eyes when she said those words... I’ll never forget it.

No one.

Not my father.

Not my friends.

No one.

But now he knows.

Panic pulses through me as I try and force them away. I don’t know how to control them. I haven’t let them free in years—not fully. Not since I was a child, sneaking into hidden corners of the castle just to stretch them out—to take in their glory in secret before hiding them away again.